The Shapeshifter From Space
by SharkLord Productions
Summary: It was a normal day for Calvin and Hobbes-Well, as normal as you could get with those two-When their alien friends, Galaxoid and Nebular, came down and asked for help. Apparently, they've tracked a shapeshifting alien criminal to Earth, and he's somewhere in the neighborhood. Now the four need to track him down. This probably won't end well... (Complete, rewrite coming eventually)
1. Prologue

**Authors' Note: So. My first fanfic. Yay. Anyways, expect more author's notes like this one later. That's all for today.**

* * *

Space.

Vast. Dark. Mostly empty, with a few planets orbiting their solar system's resident burning ball of gas.

Oh, and the spaceships. Yeah, there's spaceships. One, in particular, plays quite a role in this story.

It was shaped like an oval, with fins on the side and jets to propel it through the cosmos. There was a spaceship equivalent of a windshield-Though I doubt we can call it that when there's no wind in space-to allow the pilot to see, with little round portholes across the spacecraft's sides.

It's pilot was a humanoid being, with no visible neck, and a dome for a head. In place of arms, he had two sets of tentacles, and his glowing compound eyes were oval-ish, bending slightly upwards and tilted diagonally.

"I still can't believe how easy it was to fool everyone in that organization." he said. "After all this time, they still haven't caught me. When your target's a shapeshifter, you should probably check twice on who's boarding a ship."

He tapped some buttons with his tentacles, and a holographic map popped up.

"Hm..." he said. "The nearest inhabitable planet is about a hundred arkloknots away."

He poked the planet, and a few facts came up in some alien language. The alien muttered under his breath as he read the lines of text. "Earth... Primitive inhabitants... Decent atmosphere... Dominant species screwing up the planet..."

He began closing the holographic tabs. "Seems easy to fool. Still, I've heard that two inhabitants have made contact with some Scaepians. Might be rumors, but better safe than sorry."

He poked a tab, and two pictures came up. One image is what we humans would recognize as a little boy, and the other a tiger that stood upright.

"Yeah," said the alien. "I don't think they'll too much trouble. Now, time to get to work."

And with that, he pushed a lever forward and pressed a button, and the spaceship sped forward towards the little blue planet.

* * *

In another part of the galaxy, another spaceship of a similar design floated through the cosmos. Inside, two little green aliens, resembling blobby squids standing on their tentacles, with one big eye in the middle of their heads, were looking at screens on the dashboard.

"I've got his location!" said one.

"Where is he?" asked the other.

"He's heading to Earth." replied the first.

"You mean where Calvin and Hobbes are?" the other said.

The first alien nodded. "We might be able to ask them for help!"

The second paused for a second, then nodded back. "They're our best chance. But we've got to hurry. We've got a tracker on his ship, but if he gets there before we do, he'll blend in and we'll loose track of him. Full throttle, Galaxoid!"

The first alien tapped away at the buttons, pushed a lever forward, and with that, the spaceship sped across the cosmos, to the same planet as their target: Earth.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry this chapter's so short. It's just the prologue, so please keep in mind that the actual chapters will be a good deal longer, and much more worth the read. Thank you.**


	2. A Somewhat Normal Day (Or Not?)

**Author's Note: And now the story actually begins. Before you start reading, I'd like to say that this fanfic won't be that long. It's really just to ease Calvin and Hobbes into more action-y situations, as a setup to future stories. Stay tuned for those. Anyways, on with the show!**

* * *

It was a peaceful, sunny day in a small town somewhere in Ohio. The children had gone off to school, and their parents were enjoying the precious time they had before their kids came back, particularly one hyperactive spiky-haired six-year-old.

At that very moment, a yellow school bus drove up to the sidewalk, and opened it's doors. As soon as it did so, the aforementioned six-year-old burst out of them, laughing like a madman.

Welp. Peace is over.

"You thought you could keep me imprisoned, but you failed!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "I won! You cannot keep me imprisoned! EVERY TIME YOU TRY TO KEEP THE MIGHTY CALVIN IMPRISONED, HE SHALL RISE AGAIN!"

The bus driver, having grown used to the child's shouting, didn't acknowledge him, and began to drive off the next house. The child-Calvin-turned around, grinning triumphantly, and began walking towards his house. He opened the door, stuck his head in, and shouted, "I'M HOME!"

Suddenly, a burst of orange and black flew out of the house and slammed into him, sending him flying. The boy skidded across the ground, coming to a stop next to his assailant; a tiger that just so happened to be able to stand on two legs and had opposable thumbs.

Calvin glared at the tiger, who was laughing his head off.

"That's the farthest I've seen you go in a while!" he said.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Hobbes." Calvin grumbled irritably, standing up and walking back towards the door. "But I _will_ get you back for this."

As he walked through the door, his mother looked up and noticed him. A look of surprise crossed her face, and she opened her mouth to ask what happened, but decided against it, knowing that she probably wouldn't get a direct answer.

Calvin got into his room, opened the door, and found that Hobbes had somehow already beat him in.

"...How did you even...?" he began, then cut off, deciding it wasn't worth his time. There were more important things to attend to.

"Anyways," he said. "We have some planning to do."

"We do?" asked Hobbes.

"Of _course_ we do." Calvin snorted. "We have a G.R.O.S.S. meeting, remember?"

"Oh... Oh yeah." said Hobbes, who remembered that there wasn't any meetings for their personal club, G.R.O.S.S.-Get Rid Of Slimy girlS-but decided that arguing against Calvin wouldn't be worth the time. "We do. Silly me."

"Now, to the treehouse!" Calvin said.

* * *

Calvin and Hobbes were in the G.R.O.S.S. headquarters, Calvin's treehouse. Calvin was doing the speaking, while Hobbes took notes.

"As you know," said Calvin. "Our clubs' worst enemy, Susie Derkins, lives right next door.

"Gasps of horror and outrage all across the room." said Hobbes, writing in the notepad in his paw.

"As our goal is the vanquishing of all slimy girls, we cannot tolerate this injustice! As a plan of action, I suggest we stage an all-out assault upon her! Any questions?"

"Cheers ring out." muttered Hobbes. "Bottles smash. Chairs fly across the room."

"Good!" said Calvin. "Now, to battle!"

"That's it?" asked Hobbes.

"What do you mean, that's it?" Calvin asked back.

"Well, I was kind of expecting a longer speech." replied Hobbes.

"Oh." said Calvin. "Well, that's the best I could think of. Anyways, let's go!"

* * *

Calvin and Hobbes were standing behind a bush, watching Susie play with her stuffed rabbit, Mr. Bun. In their hands was a water balloon each, and at their side was a bucket filled to the brim with more balloons.

"On my call, we drench her." whispered Calvin.

"Got it." replied Hobbes.

"In three... Two... O-"

Calvin was abruptly cut off by a loud splash, followed by a voice very similar to his saying "Take THAT, Susie! Ha ha!"

Calvin and Hobbes exchanged glances. Who was that?

"CALVIN, YOU LITTLE CREEP!" Susie shouted. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR! I'M TELLING YOUR MOTHER!"

Calvin and Hobbes watched in shock as Susie ran off, while the Calvin-like voice laughed hysterically. Calvin peeked his head around the bush and gasped. Standing in Susie's lawn was... Calvin.

Hobbes peeked out, and gasped as well. He looked down. Yup. Calvin was right there. He looked back at person in Susie's lawn. Somehow, Calvin was still there, laughing. He looked back at Calvin, who stood up at the same time and clunked his head against Hobbes.

He looked up at Hobbes and glared. "Watch it!"

The Calvin lookalike in Susie's yard looked in the direction of the sound. Upon seeing Calvin and Hobbes, who were currently arguing about something at the moment, he turned around and ran.

The duo noticed the doppelganger running away and immediately stood up.

"Hey! Wait!" Calvin called, but the other Calvin had disappeared.

There was a pause. After a moment, Hobbes broke the silence.

" _Who_ the heck was _that_?" he asked incredulously.

Calvin shrugged. "I have no idea! He could be an alien criminal, for all I know!"

"Calvin," said Hobbes. "let's be reasonable. I'm pretty sure that an alien criminal would _not_ look like you."

"Do you have any proof?" asked Calvin.

It was at that very moment that a shadow loomed over Calvin. He turned around to see who it was.

It was Mom, and boy, was she _mad_.

"Calvin," she said. "Susie came to me and told me that she was minding her own business and you soaked her with a water balloon for no reason."

"Don't worry, Mom, I can explain." Calvin said.

"Oh, really?" said Mom.

"It was really weird, Mom! Somebody who looked just like me came in, splashed her, and ran off! It wasn't me! Honest!"

"Then what about the bucket filled with water balloons?" asked Mom, motioning to the bucket next to him.

"Oh, this?" said Calvin. "We were hiding behind a bush, waiting to soak her. That's when the doppelganger... Struck..." He trailed off as he realized what he just said, and hastily added, "But I didn't actually go through with it! Don't I get points for that?"

Mom's glare deepened.

* * *

To put it simply, Calvin was put in his room, and was stuck there for a week.

"My life needs a rewind button." he sighed.

"And a stupidity control." Hobbes added.

"Uh huh..." said Calvin. " _Wait a minute..._ "

Hobbes snickered, hand over his mouth, before Calvin tackled into him. They bounced around the room, knocking things over.

"CALVIN!" Mom shouted. "STOP THUMPING AROUND!"

The two stopped their fighting, sprawled out across the room. After a moment, Calvin sat up.

"Okay," he said. "I have a plan."

Hobbes groaned, dreading the inevitable chaos that would ensue. "Please keep me out of this." he said.

"Oh, stop whining, you sissy." Calvin said. "We'll just tie up the blankets, put 'em out the window, and climb down it like a rope ladder. It's not like we haven't done it before."

"I don't seem to recall those plans ending well." Hobbes muttered under his breath.

"Did you say something?" asked Calvin.

"Nothing..." said Hobbes.

"Huh." said Calvin. "I could've sworn you said something... Ah, well. Let's set up the blankets."

The two grabbed the blankets on Calvin's bed, and started tying them up. When they finished tying, they dangled the blanket-rope ladder out the window, and started climbing down it. Suddenly, a yell came from the house, causing them to jump and fall to the ground in a heap.

"AAUUGH!" shouted Mom. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE IN YOUR ROOM! AND YOU'VE GONE AND BROKEN ALL OUR FRAGILE BELONGINGS! YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR A _MONTH_!"

Calvin jumped up, knocking Hobbes off of him.

"The doppelganger has struck again!" he said. "And now they've gotten me into even _more_ trouble! There's something fishy going on, Hobbes, and going to get to the bottom of it!"

"But first, we need to pull down the blanket ladder, before your long-lost twin or whoever he is uses it to escape." Hobbes pointed out.

"Oh, yeah." said Calvin, as Hobbes pulled down the rope ladder. "Hey, what if he actually _is_ my long lost twin? How would that even work, though? And why have I never heard of him before? And why is he wearing the exact same clothes as I am? Hobbes?"

Hobbes simply pointed in front of him. Calvin looked in the direction Hobbes was pointing, and his eyes bulged.

It was Moe, the local school bully. He was big, buff, and frankly, he wasn't too smart. Still, he was big and buff, and his favorite pastime was pounding smaller kids into the closest wall, so that was generally enough of an incentive for most kids to steer clear of him. He wore a black T-shirt with a skull on it, and his hair covered his eyes. No, I don't know how he sees through that haircut. Don't ask.

Also, he was really, really mad. Considering the amount of clobberings he gave out when he was in a good mood alone, that sounds pretty noteworthy.

"Um..." Calvin said nervously, half-paralyzed with fear and panicking internally. "Hi, Moe! What brings you here? I mean..." He laughed nervously. "I think this is the first time you've ever stepped foot the general vicinity of my house!"

"You've been saying things about me." Moe growled.

"I have?" asked Calvin. "I don't seem to remember that, either."

"My pals came over and laughed at me. They said you told them a secret."

"You have secrets?!" asked Calvin, genuinely surprised. "I thought your personality was punching smaller people and that was it."

" _You said I played with dolls and ponies._ " Moe snarled, clenching both his teeth and his fists.

"Do you?" said Calvin, slowly sidling away from the hulking brute that looked seconds away from clobbering him into oblivion. "You don't seem like the type to do such things."

"But you told people I do." Moe went on. "You made people laugh at me. You know what that means?"

"No, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it involves clobbering me into this wall." Calvin said, who was now beginning to sweat, his eyes darting back and forth, desperately looking for an opening to escape.

"Yup." said Moe, and with that, he brought his massive fist down towards Calvin. The helpless boy closed his eyes and covered his face with his arms, and braced for impact...

But it didn't come. Instead, a bright, neon greenish-blue light encompassed him, leaving him completely unharmed. He hesitantly opened his eyes, and saw Moe looking at him, a puzzled look on his face. His confusion quickly turned back to anger, and he raised his fist again. Calvin quickly rolled out of the way, and Moe just missed him. His fist smashed into the wall, and he winced in pain.

Suddenly, a whizzing noise cut through the air, and a tranquilizer dart materialized on Moe's thick neck. He only managed to mumble, "What the...?" before he collapsed, and started snoring loudly.

Calvin looked over his shoulder in the direction that the dart had come from. Standing there were...

"Galaxoid and Nebular!"

Two aliens resembling blobby squids, standing on four thin tentacles, with their heads on the tip of the mantle, featuring one eye and a toothless mouth. They both wore pointy hats, Galaxoid's having a star on it, and Nebular's having a moon. Galaxoid was holding a tranquilizer dart gun in one of his tentacles.

"Calvin." replied Nebular. "We have need of your assistance."

"Um..." said Calvin. "Okay, then. I see there's a problem that only the Supreme Earthling Potentate can deal with?"

"Actually, I believe we've cleared up that there is no Supreme Earthling Potentate." Nebular said. "It's just that most of the planets in our intergalactic alliance have a Supreme Potentate, so Galaxoid usually asks where it is whenever we meet new civilizations. Not all planets have the same way of ruling, you know.. Anyways-

"Wait, where's Hobbes?" Galaxoid cut in.

Calvin looked around. Where _was_ Hobbes?

"I'm up here."

Calvin, Galaxoid, and Nebular looked in the direction that the voice had came from. While Moe had been talking to Calvin, Hobbes had managed to scramble up a tree.

"Hobbes, get down from there." Calvin snapped. "You should've been helping me when Moe attacked."

"I would've helped you, but I'd rather stay alive, thank you very much." Hobbes replied, beginning to climb down from the tree.

Calvin rolled his eyes, and turned back to the two aliens. "So what's the big deal?" he asked.

"It would probably be better to talk about it in our ship." said Nebular, pointing to the spaceship floating above the street as it turned off it's invisibility feature.

"And Moe?" asked Calvin.

"We'll bring him with us." Nebular said. A look of horror crossed Calvin's face, and Nebular chuckled. "Don't worry. The tranquilizer won't wear off for a couple hours. We'll put him in his bed and his parents will think he just decided to take a nap. Come along, now."

The spaceship landed next to them, and Calvin, Hobbes, Galaxoid, and Nebular began to walk in.

"So why are you here, again?" asked Hobbes.

"Well," said Nebular. "We're looking for a shapeshifting alien criminal who was last located on this planet. His name is Nimic."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Chapter One completed! I have posted my first actual chapter on Fanfiction! This is a major turning point in my life! Celebration time!**

 ***Ahem***

 **Anyways, you might be wondering what's going on with Galaxoid and Nebular, and how the bit of backstory given contradicts the comics. To put it simply, the role they and their race plays in this fanfic doesn't work with their portrayal in the comics, so I changed it a bit, so here they know that Calvin isn't the Supreme Earthling Potentate. They also already knew about snow. I don't want to make this Author's Note too long, so I'll go into detail in future chapters. See you when I upload them!**


	3. The Search For Nimic

**Author's Note: Here's where we get some exposition dumped on our heads. After that, the real fun begins. Enjoy!**

* * *

For a few seconds, there were silence. Then, Galaxoid slithered into the room, carrying Moe on a sort of high-tech hammock with glowing blue threads, suspended by two poles, moved by floating off the ground, the circular parts of the bottom glowing light blue.

"What's with all the quiet?" he asked. "Aren't we explaining stuff to them?"

"Well, it just feels more dramatic." Calvin said.

"And I was about to continue when you came in." Nebular added. "I only paused for a couple of seconds."

"Oh." replied Galaxoid, wheeling the unconscious Moe away. "Okay. Carry on."

Nebular cleared his throat. "Ahem. Anyways, Nimic is a Morffian, a race of shapeshifters. They abandoned their home planet thousands of years ago, becoming a race of travelling thieves. Around a century ago, most of them have decided to give up their ways and travel back to their planet. However, others went out on their own or in groups, continuing their thieving ways. Nimic is a descendant of one of those rogues, and one of the most successful. We have been tracking him for years, and he hasn't been caught once, thanks to his shapeshifting ability, which got many innocents accidentally jailed."

"Wow." said Hobbes. "This guy's dangerous. I'm not sure we can help."

"Well, we almost caught him a couple weeks ago on the planet AM-K2's second moon, a major source of multiple kinds of fuel. Nimic was attempting to refuel his ship, but he tripped the alarm, and was chased out by the security force, who he thought he fooled. In reality, however, they managed to put a tracking device on his ship. He was lasted detected on Earth, around this area. You're the only ones one Earth that know about us, and knowing what Calvin can whip up, we thought you might be able to help."

"Well, we'd love to help." said Hobbes, slowly scooting towards the exit. "But we're kind of... _B_ _usy_... At the moment. We're kinda, y'know, grounded. Right, Calvin?"

"Only because that dang Minic guy threw water balloons at Susie and framed me!" Calvin said indignantly.

"Actually, it's Nimic." Galaxoid pointed out, poking his head into the room.

Nebular nodded. Suddenly, his one eye widened in realization. "You _saw_ Nimic?" he asked.

"Well, I saw another me." Calvin said. "So unless the duplicates have come back and hijacked the duplicator, which is very unlikely, then yes, I saw Nimic."

"YES!" said Nebular. "That must mean he's in the area!"

"So, what do we do?" asked Hobbes. "Does he have any weapons? Because I'd rather stay away from any weapons, thank you very much."

"Well, he was unarmed the last time he was sighted elsewhere." Nebular stated. "So we should split up and look for him."

"Got it!" said Galaxoid, saluting with his tentacle.

Nebular opened the door of the spaceship. "I'll guard the ship, in case he decides to steal it. You go search for him."

"Gotcha!" said Calvin. "Come along, Hobbes. A tiger should beat an unarmed squishy alien any day." He paused for a second, and asked, "He _is_ squishy, right?"

Nebular facepalmed-Or rather, face-tentacled-And said, "I should probably show you what he looks like before you start looking for him."

He then brought up a hologram of a green, humanoid alien. His head was shaped like a dome, with no neck to separate them. In place of arms, there were a set of tentacles. His yellow compound eyes were oval-ish, curving very slightly towards each other, pointing upwards and tilted diagonally, and he lacked a visible nose. He was wearing a sliver spacesuit that covered his torso, arms, and his legs, which resembled tentacles as well, ending with a sort of alien footwear, ending with an upwards point, like a much less exaggerated version of a jester's.

And yes, he did look rather squishy.

"See?" said Calvin. "Look at him! No armor at all! You can shred him easily!"

Hobbes sighed. "Fine, I'll come."

As they began walking out of the ship, Nebular called out, "And please keep him as intact as possible! We stand for peace, not dismemberment!"

"Okay, no shredding." Calvin muttered under his breath, sounding rather disappointed at the lack of violence.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the woods behind Calvin's house, a humanoid being was sitting down next to his hijacked ship.

Nimic.

He checked his fuel tank, and growled in frustration. "Of course I turn out to be out of gas when I'm stuck on a stupid, primitive planet." He stood up and sighed. "Well, I'd better see if there's anything here on this rock that could fuel my ship. And in the meantime..." A toothy grin spread across his face. "I think I'll have a bit of fun."

* * *

Hobbes spread apart the leaves and bushes, trying to find the alien shapeshifter. He had been going at it for about half an hour now-Or was it two hours? He had lost track of time a while ago-And he was beginning to get hungry. As he turned around, a twig snapped. He froze.?

Slowly, he rotated his head, first to the left, then to the right. Nothing. He stepped back warily. "Hello?" he asked. "Calvin? Galaxoid?" As he looked around, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

It was a broken twig. Where he had been standing. He had been afraid of himself stepping on a twig.

"Wow." he muttered. "Afraid of snapping twigs in a forest where the largest animal is the occasional deer. Some tiger you are."

Just then, somebody laughed behind him. Hobbes turned around, and saw Calvin rolling in the dirt, laughing his head off.

"Calvin?" he asked, "What are you doing here? Weren't we supposed to split up?"

"You are _pathetic_!" Calvin laughed. "Afraid of a little twig breaking! Ha!"

Hobbes was taken aback by Calvin's statement.

"' _Oh my, A twig broke! How scary!_ '" Calvin went on. "I don't know why I even keep you around!"

Hobbes narrowed his eyes. That was cold, even for Calvin. Something was wrong here.

"Why would anyone even try to be friends with such useless animal like you?"

Suddenly, Hobbes realized what was going on. "Say, Calvin?" he asked.

Calvin barely managed to stop laughing to sneer, "What is it, scaredy-cat?"

"Are you, by any chance, Nimic in disguise?"

"Calvin's" eyes widened in surprise, before he took a breath to compose himself. "Who's Nimic?" he asked.

"Yep, you're Nimic." said Hobbes, who quickly tackled the fake Calvin to the ground.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Get off of me, you primitive savage!"

Hobbes simply picked him up and carried him in one arm, like a tablet or a plank of wood. He walked in the direction of the edge of the forest, with Nimic flailing and screaming the entire way.

Just then, Nimic saw something. A small, furry animal was climbing up a tree. It was a squirrel.

Nimic grinned. This was just what he needed.

In a puff of smoke, the fake Calvin disappeared from Hobbes' arms, and a squirrel took it's place. The sudden shift in weight put Hobbes off balance slightly, taking him by surprise, and Nimic ran off.

"Hey!" said Hobbes, chasing after the squirrel. "Get back here!"

* * *

Calvin walked down the street, sighing. The search for Nimic had been dragging on for a while, and Calvin was starting to get tired and hungry. Maybe he should just go home and get Mom to make him a sandwich... Wait, no, he couldn't do that. He was supposed to be grounded. If Mom saw him outside his room, she'd probably pop a few veins.

Calvin sat down and sighed. Just then, he heard a familiar voice. "Hey, Calvin."

He looked up. It was Galaxoid. He was putting a burger wrapper in the trash, and was carrying a bag full of more burgers in his tentacle. "Any luck?" Calvin shook his head. "Darn. That guy is as slippery as he is squishy."

"You didn't find him either?" Calvin wheezed.

Galaxoid shook his head. "I didn't find him, but I got pelted with nuts by some grumpy squirrels, hugged a corgi puppy, and got hungry found a burger place that required you to write you order instead of saying it for some reason. Since I'm not that good at writing English, I ended up getting seven burgers instead of one. I've still got about five, if you'd like one." he opened the bag so Calvin could take one.

Grateful, Calvin wordlessly took a burger and started eating.

The two sat for a bit, eating burgers in silence. Suddenly, Hobbes ran by, noticed the two, and backpedaled over to them.

"Hey, guys." he said "Did you, by any chance, see a squirrel run by?"

"No." Calvin said, swallowing a mouthful of burger. "Why?"

"Because I thought I saw Calvin mocking me, but then I realized it was Nimic, so I tried to bring him back, but he turned into a squirrel and escaped."

"Ah, darn." said Galaxoid. "He's a slippery fellow, all right."

Calvin let out a groan. "At this rate, we'll never catch him!"

Galaxoid gave him a pat on the back.

Hobbes just sighed. "Let's go back to the ship and see if Nebular can help us."

The three got up and started walking dejectedly back to the ship.

* * *

"YOU SAW HIM?!" asked Nebular.

"Yeah." said Hobbes. "But he got away."

"That's still progress!" Nebular went on. "We know he's still in the area, so we have a vague impression of where he is! You sit down and get some rest, we'll search from the ship."

"Search from the ship?" moaned Calvin. "Why couldn't we do that sooner? We could have saved so much time!"

"Our fuel supplies were exhausted, so we had to charge them." Nebular explained. "We've had enough time to charge, so we should be able to fly now. Fire her up, Galaxoid!"

"Got it!" Galaxoid saluted, and walked up to the controls. As he tapped away, Nebular walked into an area of the ship that must have been the ship's equivalent to a rather large trunk, or a closet, or something. "I'll get you two something to rest on." he said.

As the ship began to leave the ground, Calvin turned to Hobbes, and asked, "What were you afraid of in the forest, anyways?"

Hobbes pondered over whether of not to tell Calvin the truth or not, before sighing.

"I heard a twig snap." he admitted. "That I stepped on."

Calvin snickered, trying to not to laugh.

Hobbes groaned. _'Well, at least he's not openly insulting you like Nimic.'_ he thought.

Nebular came back out of the ship's trunk-shed-closet-whatever, bringing two of the alien hammocks Moe had been carried on with him. "We'll take it from here. We're used to things like this."

Calvin and Hobbes both hopped on to the hammocks and sighed in relief. It wasn't long before they drifted off to sleep.

I guess it had been closer to two hours after all.

* * *

Mom walked up to her son's room. It was 6 O'clock, and her son had been unusually quiet since she grounded him for a month. A part of her hoped it was because he was sorry, but the rest of her doubted it.

"Calvin?" she asked. "It's time for-"

She stopped. Calvin was gone. So was Hobbes. And the blankets from his bed were tied up and thrown out the window, acting as a makeshift rope ladder.

Her left eye twitched, followed by her right. Her face turned red, and steam billowed out of her ears. " _CAAAAALVIIIIIN!_ "

* * *

Galaxoid and Nebular watched the screen as they flew over the town. There were still no sign of Nimic. Suddenly, a blip appeared on the radar. "Galaxoid," said Nebular. "I think we found him. Go wake up Calvin and Hobbes."

"Yes, sir!" said Galaxoid, who turned around and walked in to the room Calvin and Hobbes were in.

The duo were still napping on their alien space hammocks.

"Psst." whispered Galaxoid. "Wake up."

They kept on sleeping. Galaxoid cleared his throat. "Hello," he said. "Wakey-wakey, it's time to get up."

They still didn't wake up. Calvin shifted in his hammock.

"All that tuna, just for me?" Hobbes mumbled in his sleep. "Yes, _please_."

Galaxoid narrowed his one eye, which quickly lit up in realization. He brought out a sort of alien smartphone, and brought up an app, which he started flipping through. Upon seeing his choice, he tapped the icon, and pointed the alien device at the sleeping duo.

A video game song started loudly blaring from the device, causing the two to jump in surprise. Hobbes flailed around in the air, before landing. Calvin awkwardly got tangled up in the hammock.

"Where'd all the tuna go?" asked Hobbes.

"We found him!" said Galaxoid.

"Nimic?" asked Calvin. Galaxoid nodded vigorously. "Finally!" Calvin let out a sigh of relief. "Now, would you be so kind as to help me out of this mess?"

"Okay." said Galaxoid, who walked over to Calvin's side, reached out, and pushed the hammock in the opposite direction of how it was twisted, spinning Calvin around, before finally dropping him, disoriented, on the ground. Little birds and stars circled his head. Galaxoid grabbed him by the arm, and Hobbes joined him in walking over to the control room.

* * *

After Calvin regained his sense of up and down, Nebular explained to the what was going on.

"The Morffians, Nimic included, have a slightly lower blood temperature than humans. This blood temperature stays the same, no matter what shape they take on. As a result, we were able to track him to his current location, which he is staying in at the moment."

Nebular then pressed a button on the dashboard, and a holographic screen appeared, showing a house.

"Wait, isn't that Susie's house?" asked Calvin.

"You mean the girl you were going to pelt with water balloon, but Nimic beat you to it?" asked Galaxoid.

"Uh huh-Wait, how do you know that?" asked Calvin.

"We were spying on you using tiny drones." said Galaxoid bluntly. "That's how we were able to find you."

" _What?!_ " Calvin said. "You can't just _spy_ on people! That's a violation of personal space!"

"We needed a way to find you." Nebular pointed out. "We were refueling our ship, and we couldn't blow our cover."

"Why do you need to stay undercover?" asked Hobbes.

"Calvin told us some other humans might not react well to us." Nebular stated simply. "He said a lot of people don't like anybody who's different from them in some genetic way they can't help, which I think is foolish and they need to be taught that genetic differences aren't a reason to hate people, but let's save that for later. We have an alien criminal to to catch, after all."

He brought out an alien device, shaped like a thin, metal hockey puck, with a screen taking up a little under a third of one side, and handed it to Calvin. "This will allow you to detect who's Nimic in disguise, and who's not." he explained. "If the screen is red, the person in question is Nimic. If not, the screen is blue. We can't show ourselves to the humans, so we'll wait from here. Now, go get him!"

The doors opened, revealing that the ship had landed a couple houses away from Susie's, and Calvin and Hobbes walked out.

* * *

It took about a minute to get to Susie's house. When they did so, Calvin and Hobbes started figuring out how they would get in.

"I say we sneak in through the window!" Calvin said.

"We can't do that." said Hobbes. "Then you'll get in even more trouble than you're already in."

"But Nimic knows that we're looking for him!" said Calvin.

"But he's unarmed." Hobbes pointed out. "I can probably take him."

"But how do we get in?" Calvin asked, bringing them back to the original topic.

"Through the door." Hobbes said simply.

Calvin opened his mouth, tried to think of any other ideas, sighed, walked up to the door, and rung the bell.

Susie's mom opened the door. She blinked. "Calvin." she said. "Your mother has been looking for you."

"Has she?" asked Calvin, putting the Nimic detector behind his back, and handing it to Hobbes.

Ms. Derkins nodded. "She went by here fifteen minutes ago."

Hobbes pointed the Nimic detector at her. The screen turned blue. So Ms. Derkins wasn't Nimic.

Hobbes leaned forward, and whispered, "It's not her." in Calvin's ear. "It must be Susie, but we should probably check, just to be sure."

"Well," Calvin said to Susie's mom, trying to think of an excuse to bring out Susie. "I was, um, I was trying to, uh..." He cleared his throat, and said, "I came here to say sorry for pelting her with water balloons."

"Oh." said Ms. Derkins. "That's nice of you. I'll bring her down so you can apologize. Wait here." She then turned and started walking to her daughter's room.

"Ugh." Calvin muttered under his breath as soon as she was gone. "I can't believe I said that."

Before he could get a response, a shadow fell over him. He looked up, and a look of horror crossed his face.

It was Mom.

"O-oh." Calvin stuttered. "Hi, Mom."

"Calvin." Mom growled through gritted teeth, in a voice that was unnervingly quiet. "I've been looking for you for an hour."

"You have?" said Calvin, putting on his best innocent face. "That sounds... Tiring."

"And your dinner is cold by now. We're going home, and you're going straight to bed."

And with that, she grabbed him on the wrist, and started dragging him home.

"Wait, you don't understand!" Calvin said, struggling helplessly against his mother's tight grip. "I can explain! Just give me a minute!"

Susie and her mom popped out the door. "Oh." said Ms. Derkins. "I see you've found Calvin."

While nobody noticed it, Hobbes pointed the Nimic detector at Susie. It glowed red.

They had found Nimic.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Okay, that wasn't _that_ exciting, sure, but it was still something. If you're a bit disappointed, though, I've got something special planned for next chapter. I can't give away the surprise now but I promise you, it will be worth it. Just you wait.**


	4. A Trip to the Zoo

**Author' Note: Sorry for the hiatus. It's been kind of busy recently, and I haven't gotten a chance to write. Anyways, I've decided that while I'm going to finish this, I'll probably do a rewrite somewhere down the line, so don't consider it canon to future stories. After all, nobody starts off perfectly.**

 **Okay, now you can read the story.**

* * *

"Calvin," whispered Hobbes. "The device says Susie is actually Nimic in disguise!"

Calvin pulled helplessly at Mom's arm as she dragged him through the doorway. "We need to catch him!"

"There's nothing we can do now." Hobbes said. "He has both her mom and yours convinced, and you're already in enough trouble as it is. We'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Calvin sighed. "I guess you're right."

* * *

"Calvin! Wake up!"

Calvin groaned, rubbing his eyes. He couldn't sleep last night, thinking about Nimic, and how the longer he was out there, the more trouble he could cause-Or get him into.

"This is the last time, Calvin!"

Calvin slowly got out of bed, and walked over to his drawers. Just then, he heard something-Or rather, some _one_.

"Hey, Calvin!" called Galaxoid, waving. He and Nebular were riding on a floating disc-like object in Calvin's window frame.

"Galaxoid and Nebular!" Calvin said.

"We were able to detect the Nimic detector's readings, so we know where he is." Nebular explained. "However, we need to find where the actual Susie is, or her mom will start to worry, and we don't want to be discovered."

He handed Calvin and Hobbes little earpieces. "Put these in your ears. They'll let you communicate with us over long distances, while still being able to hear. Take Hobbes to school with you."

"Got it!" replied Calvin, before adding, "Also, why would he need to keep Susie around, anyways?"

"Because, while he can transform into any living animal he sees, he can only stay transformed for three hours in total if they are of civilization-level intelligence, and anywhere from one hour to five minutes for anything below. If he touches them, he can stay transformed from six hours to one hour, depending on the animal. However, the more transformations he has stored at once, the less time he can use them for. As a result, he needs to have a place to keep Susie hidden, while he can still touch her. Besides, as far as we know, he has never actually killed anyo-"

"CALVIN!" Mom shouted from the floor below, cutting off Nebular and making them all jump. "HURRY UP, OR I'LL GO UP THERE MYSELF!"

Quickly, Galaxoid and Nebular rode their floating disc out the window, and Calvin and Hobbes put the earpieces in. Calvin just managed to put his clothes on before Mom opened the door.

"Hi, Mom." Calvin said, as calmly as he could manage.

Mom observed her son, trying to see if there was anything he had done, before deciding he was innocent this time, and let him through the door.

* * *

As Calvin walked over to the table to have breakfast, his father greeted him.

"Good morning, Calvin!" he said cheerily. "Today's the day!"

"What day?" asked Calvin, pouring a bowl of his favorite cereal brand, Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs.

"Why, the field trip to the zoo!" Dad said. "Did you really forget?"

"Wait, when did this come up again?" asked Calvin. "I don't seem to remember anything about a field trip to... The zoo..."

He trailed off, remembering the field trip that had been talked abut the week before. He had brought home the paper, gave it to his parents, actually remembered to bring it back to school for once, and forgot about it after that, not helped by the crazed hunt for a shapeshifting alien criminal.

Now, the weight of the implications of said alien shapeshifter going to a place with large, potentially dangerous animals like tigers or gorillas crashed into him.

"Calvin?" asked Mom. "You look horrified. I thought you liked the zoo. Is anything wrong? Did you forget to do your homework again?"

"Oh, no!" Calvin said, trying to avoid having to explain what had been going on with the alien shapeshifter. He didn't need any more problems, especially now. "I was just shocked that I had managed to forget about the zoo trip, is all!"

Mom and Dad exchanged looks, before deciding to not go any further. "Okay, then." said Dad. "Just as long as you didn't forget to do anything important!"

* * *

As Calvin packed everything up, Nebular's voice came in from his earpiece.

"Calvin," he said. "How do you forget about a _field trip_ to the _zoo_?"

"Um..." Calvin said sheepishly, trying to come up with an answer.

"We need to catch him, quickly!" Nebular went on. "We'll search for Susie from here, but in the meantime, you need to find a way to keep Nimic contained!"

"Don't worry, I've packed some equipment." Calvin said.

"With all your school supplies?" Galaxoid cut in. "That's sounds heavy. Besides, wouldn't Hobbes be squished?"

"It's actually a lot bigger on the inside." Hobbes said from inside the backpack.

"Uh-huh." Calvin said. "I thought that my backpack was too heavy and cluttered, so I decreased it's weight and increased it's storage space. You just need to think of what you want that's inside it, reach in, and you'll have it in your hand!"

"You can also hide in it." Hobbes added.

"...Impressive." Nebular admitted. "But you need to catch him quickly, before he copies any of the animals at the zoo. If he does, he could wreak havoc there, or worse, capture some and bring theme with him like he did with Susie."

"Got it!" Calvin whispered, as he opened the door and began walking to the school bus.

* * *

In the bus, Calvin just so happened to be sitting across from where "Susie", or, rather, Nimic disguised as Susie, who had "her" head turned away from him. However, he could faintly see her reflection in the glass, enough to see "her" grinning wickedly. It was a bit more unnerving than Calvin thought it should be. Maybe it was because the alien could look like anybody, but secretly be someone else.

Whatever the reason, though, that grin still gave Calvin the creeps.

After they got off the bus, Mrs. Wormwood, their teacher, went over the rules. Calvin kept stealing glances towards "Susie", who kept on grinning when "she" thought nobody was looking. Calvin was itching to catch the alien shapeshifter and get it over with, but he knew that if he tried to go after what looked like Susie in front if everyone, he'd get in even more trouble than he was already in.

As a result, he stayed seated. It took a lot more self-restraint than he was used to, but he still stayed seated.

Finally, Mrs. Wormwood finished going over the rules, and everyone got up and went to the bus. Calvin sighed, and silently prayed that the whole ordeal would be over with soon.

* * *

The class was now at the zoo, with a guide giving a brief speech about the rules, being respectful to the animals and each other, and not feeding classmates to the lions. Calvin was standing among them, getting some looks for bringing his entire backpack with him, but otherwise being general ignored.

"How's it going, Calvin?" Nebular asked through Calvin's earpiece.

"Well," said Calvin. "We're at the zoo, and I never got a chance to catch Nimic."

Nebular groaned. "This is bad. Are there any other details?"

"Well," Calvin went on. "There's also this guide talking to us and we're all in a group."

"Then we'll have to find a way to separate him from the group. You'll have to be subtle about it, though."

"Okay, then." Calvin replied. The group started moving. "Oh, we're on the move now. I'll call you back." And with that, he started walking along with the rest of the group.

* * *

"And here, we have a fan-favorite, the African penguins!" announced the guide, gesturing to an exhibit filled with water and populated with small, flightless aquatic birds. "Oohs" and "aahs" came from the crowd. Just then, "Susie" raised her hand.

"Yes?" asked the guide.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" asked the disguised alien.

"Okay, but make it quick!" replied the announcer. "Susie" turned and began walking towards the bathrooms. Calvin's eyes widened. This was his chance!

While nobody was looking, he quietly slipped away, unnoticed, in the direction of "Susie."

"Galaxoid, Nebular," he whispered. "I think I might be able to catch him this time."

He slunk behind a tree, and let Hobbes out of his backpack.

"Hobbes, we've got 'im now!" he said.

Hobbes looked around. "Where is he, though?" he asked.

Calvin looked around. Nimic was gone. Crud.

Suddenly, a rumbling noise came from behind them, and the ground began to shake. Panicked screams came from behind them. The duo turned around and saw an elephant, somehow out of it's cage, _charging straight towards them_.

The two jumped up and screamed, before leaping out of the way, into some bushes. The elephant attempted to stop, but it's size and momentum made that hard to do. The elephant was about to crash into the bathroom, when suddenly, it just... disappeared.

Calvin and Hobbes looked at where the elephant once stood, then at each other. Suddenly, Hobbes noticed something. "Hey, what's that there?"

Calvin looked at where his friend was pointing, and saw a green, humanoid-looking figure, just seconds before it changed into the shape of Susie. He looked back at Hobbes, who nodded. It had to be Nimic.

The two got out from behind the bushes, and started following the alien shapeshifter.

They followed him around a corner, and saw a fork in the road, one leading to a rainforest exhibit, and the other going to a savannah exhibit. Nimic was nowhere to be seen.

"You take the rainforest." said Calvin. "I'll take the savannah."

"Why would I take the rainforest?" asked Hobbes. "Tigers live in savannahs, not rainforests. I'll be in my home turf there."

"Tigers don't live in savannahs." said Calvin. "Lions live in savannahs. You should know where your own species lives, Hobbes."

"Savannahs aren't only in Africa." Hobbes said. "Besides, some lions life in the same places as tigers, too. Of course, the tigers usually win all the fights that take place."

"Are you scared?" asked Calvin.

"No, why?" asked Hobbes. "All those poisonous animals that you delight in naming are behind glass. The big wildlife, on the other hand, are in open exhibits. Besides, I'm better equipped to take on wildebeest and rhinoceros than you are."

Calvin sighed. "Okay, okay, I see your point."

"Good," said Hobbes, and walked off in the direction of the savannh exhibit.

Calvin turned and began walking to his own exhibit.

* * *

Hobbes whistled as he casually strolled over to an enclosure filled with tigers.

"Hello, my fellow superior breed of felines!" he called. "Have you, by any chance, seen a bizarre green man-looking thing that changes into other animals walk by?"

" ** _ROAR!_** "

"Okay, thank you!" Hobbes called back, and walked towards the rhino exhibit. As he walked down the path, a rumbling noise came from the direction of the exhibit, and a stampede of humans came rushing towards him. He dodged out of the way just in time, and saw a rhinoceros charge by him.

"HEY, ARE YOU NIMIC?" he yelled at the rhino. The rhino turned towards him, glared violently, and charged straight at him. A look of panic crossed Hobbes' face, and he quickly scrambled up the nearest tree. "It would appear that you are."

Suddenly, the rhino glowed green, and it's shape began to change. Hobbes gulped as the rhinoceros transformed into and elephant. For a moment, Hobbes was frozen in terror.

Then, Nimic began shaking the tree. The moment ended, and Hobbes' limbs remembered that this was one of those moments that they needed to move, _fast_. The tiger leaped off of the tree, and landed running on all fours. The alien shapeshifter stopped shaking the tall plant, and continued charging towards him.

Hobbes continued running, when suddenly, all the thumping stopped. He turned around, and saw Nimic's true form materializing behind him.

"Huh." he said. "Guess an elephant is one of those creatures that has a short time limit."

Nimic glared at him. "I'll get you for that." he snarled.

"For what?" asked Hobbes. "Not getting trampled by you?"

"Because that was the closest I've ever come for getting caught." Nimic growled. "By a primitive _savage_ , of all things."

Hobbes snickered.

"What?" demanded Nimic. "What's so funny?"

"That's what you consider worthy of holding a grudge for?" Hobbes asked. "Wow, you are _shallow_. Besides, you were the one who decided to try an mock me. Why would you even try to break our friendship? That doesn't sound like it would help you avoid capture or anything."

"Because it would've been fun, if you hadn't ruined it." Nimic said, grinning smugly.

Hobbes started at him. "Because it's fun?" he asked.

"Yup."

"I'm honestly surprised that someone as petty and childish as you has managed to avoid capture for so long. You don't seem that smart..." Hobbes trailed off as Nimic transformed into a giraffe, glaring darkly. It was actually kind of hard to take seriously, being a giraffe and all. Hobbes swiftly dodged a kick, and began running from Nimic again.

* * *

Calvin walked through the jungle exhibit, trying not to get distracted by all the cool bugs, snakes, and frogs throughout. Just then, Hobbes' voice came in on the earpiece.

"Hey, Calvin?" he said.

"Yeah?" asked Calvin.

"I found Nimic. He's chasing me in the form of a giraffe. He's also triping constantly. It's hard to miss him."

"You seem rather calm for someone being chased by an out-of-control giraffe." Calvin observed.

"He's actually kind of childish." Hobbes said. "It's kind of hard to take him seriously."

"Okay, then." Calvin said. "I'm on my way."

* * *

It didn't take long for Calvin to reach Hobbes. Specifically, he saw him when he was running straight towards him, panic written all over his face, with an angry rhinoceros behind him. Calvin quickly jumped to the side, with Hobbes jumping to the opposite side. The rhino skidded to a halt, glowed green, and turned back into Nimic.

"Aha!" Calvin said, pointing dramatically at the shapeshifter from space. "At long last, I have found you, Nimic! You shall torment me no longer!"

"Feeling dramatic, are we?" Nimic shot back, grinning sadistically, and transformed into a gorilla.

"Ah, crud." said Calvin, who quickly jumped out of the way of the large ape's fist. The ape turned to Hobbes, and took a swing at him. Hobbes jumped out of the way, but the gorilla kept coming for him. Just then, a rock hit the large ape on the head. Nimic turned, and saw Calvin, a rock in his hand.

"Yeah, that's right!" he said. "You just back off from my... friend..." He trailed off as the gorilla roared and charged towards him. He started to run, but tripped. He looked up in terror as Nimic came towards him, when suddenly, Hobbes slammed into him from behind. They rolled behind Calvin for a little, before Nimic threw Hobbes away from him. He thudded painfully on the ground, and groaned. "Ow..."

"Hobbes!" Calvin said, reaching his hand towards his friend helplessly. Nimic raised his fists, and Hobbes braced for impact...

Only for Nimic to turn back to normal. His tentacles, which didn't need nearly as much momentum as a gorilla, awkwardly flopped on Hobbes' face.

Hobbes sat up and pushed Nimic off of him, causing him to roll across the ground in front of him. As Nimic grunted and slowly began to get up, the shadows of Calvin and Hobbes loomed over him. He looked up, and glared at them. He began to glow the telltale green of his shapeshifting. The two of them began to back away from him.

The glow ended, and a tiger stood in his place. He roared, and tackled Hobbes to the ground. The two rolled on the ground, with Calvin standing there, frozen in terror, before Hobbes somehow found the strength to throw his opponent off of him. Calvin, unfrozen, began frantically rooting around in his backpack for something he could use. A pack of bubblegum... His silly putty... Aha!

Nimic glared coldly at Hobbes, who was panting heavily and clutching his sides. Nimic slowly began to advance upon him, when suddenly, a noise came from Calvin's direction.

 _ZAP!_

Nimic watched in horror as a gigantic shadow loomed over him. His jaw dropped, and he subconsciously dropped out of his tiger form.

Calvin had somehow transformed into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. In his arms, he somehow managed to hold a little water gun in his tiny arms.

"Hey," he boomed. "You seem to like picking on people smaller than you are. How about you learn how it feels?"

Nimic just stood there, slack-jawed.

"Wow." panted Hobbes. "I never thought I would be grateful for any of Calvin's inventions, but here we are."

Nimic growled, transformed into a lion, and jumped at Calvin. Calvin responded by snapping his jaws at him. He missed, and Nimic landed on his back. The alien shapeshifter tried to bite Calvin, but before he could, Calvin tried to reach him with his jaws. He awkwardly turned around in a circle, throwing Nimic off balance, but he still held on.

"You're too big!" Hobbes shouted at him. "Try something smaller!"

"Nonsense!" Calvin shouted. "I can... Catch... Him..." Dizzily, he tripped over his feet and fell on the ground with a massive thud, throwing Nimic to the ground, where he tumbled away from him, turning back into his alien form.

"Okay, okay, I see your point." Calvin muttered, and with another _ZAP!_ , he became a smaller, T-Rex like dinosaur.

"There! Now I'm a Nanotyrannus!" said Calvin proudly. "It's like a T-Rex, but smaller!"

A hissing noise came from Nimc's direction, and a snake leaped at Calvin, who twisted around as the snake wrapped it's coils around him. The two reptiles snapped at each other, before Nimic's face hit Calvin's tongue. Calvin reflexively leaned forward, and spat Nimic out. The snake hit the ground, and he turned back to normal, conveniently in an area where he wouldn't get squished by Calvin.

"Yes!" Calvin panted. "I... Win!" And with that, his head hit the ground, painting furiously.

Hobbes walked over to him, took the transmogrifier gun, and turned Calvin back to normal. Just then, a shadow passed over them. Hobbes looked up, and saw Galaxoid and Nebular's ship land behind him. The door opened, and the two aliens walked out.

Nebular grinned. "We did it." he said. "We caught Nimic. It took about a year, but we finally did it."

"Yeah, no problem." Calvin panted.

The aliens turned in the direction of the alien shapeshifter-And saw a lizard scurrying away.

"Hey!" shouted Nebualr. "Get back here!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. Nimic was gone.

Nebular groaned. "We were so close..."

"On the bright side," Galaxoid pointed out. "We've already located Susie and returned her home."

"But what about this?" asked Hobbes, gesturing to the wrecked zoo. "Or Calvin's house?"

"Don't worry, we've got that covered." Galaxoid reassured him. "Trust us. We can give you a ride home, if you want."

"Yeah, that would be nice." Calvin groaned, still lying on the ground.

* * *

Nimic cursed under his breath in some alien language. It had been a couple of hours since he ran away, and he had reached the forest behind Calvin's house.

"I can't believe it!" he growled. "I was almost captured _twice_ in my visit here! By primitive life-forms that can barely be considered sentient, no less!"

He raised one of his tentacles, and checked a sort of alien device that resembled a wristwatch. He tapped it, and growled in frustration when it failed to turn on.

"And my ship tracker is out of battery. You have got to be kidding me." He sighed. "Well, I guess I've gotta do it the old-fashioned way. And while I'm at it..." He grinned psychotically. "I think a little revenge is in order."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Again, I'm sorry for the hiatus. Things got a little busy at one point, and then I got distracted, and the whole time this chapter has been sitting on my computer for way too long. On a side note, when I rewrite this story, one of the things I need to do is give Nimic more of a personality. I've barely shown any at all, and from what I've actually shown, he comes off as either too petty or a bit too dark for the story, and that's not how I want him to act. I'm still going to finish this story, but it won't be canon to the rest of the series.**


	5. Nimic's Final Attack

**Author's Note: Okay, this is it. This chapter's going to be pretty short, just to end it all. I feel like this isn't my best writing, so I'm just trying to get it all done so I can move on and write better fanfics. Read this if you want to, but it won't be canon to any of my future fanfics.**

* * *

Galaxoid and Nebular's ship came down for a landing. The trapdoor opened, and the little stairway extended into the ground. Calvin and Hobbes walked out, and Galaxoid and a tired-looking Nebular appeared in the doorway to wave them goodbye.

Galaxoid waved at the two. "Bye, guys." he said. "Your house is about a block or two away. Be sure to tell us if you find him."

Calvin nodded. "Sure thing."

"But how are we supposed to contact you?" asked Hobbes.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" said Galaxoid, slapping his face. "Here, catch!"

The alien tossed a little device at the duo. Calvin reached out, and after a few second of the device bouncing around in his hands, he managed to catch it.

The device looked like a sleek, buttonless silver walkie-talkie, with the exception of a big red button in the middle. A screen took up must of the top of the device.

"This will let you contact us whenever you need to." Galaxoid explained. "Just press the button and we'll be able to talk."

"Thanks." said Calvin.

He and Hobbes began walking back to their house. However, little did they realize that they were being watched...

* * *

Nebular watched the earthling boy and his tiger walking along the sidewalk. The same pair that had almost caught him. _Him,_ the uncapturable space criminal! This would not stand. He would get his revenge. He would make sure of it.

But now was not the time. He would have to wait for the perfect opportunity. Of course, when you're the ultimate alien criminal, you'll have learned patience somewhere along the line.

And when revenge finally comes, it would be made all the more sweeter.

* * *

Calvin and Hobbes were sitting on Calvin's bed, feeling rather dejected. They were grounded, Nimic was still on the loose, and both their house and the zoo were wrecked. The last couple of days had not given them many reasons for them to be positive. Not at all.

"Where do you think Nimic is right now?" asked Hobbes.

"Who knows?" asked Calvin. "Right now, I'd only care if he's going to screw up my life anymore than he already has."

As soon as the words left his mouth, a crash sounded from the living room, causing them to jump. The two exchanged glances. That couldn't mean anything good.

* * *

Nimic laughed maniacally as he knocked over lamps, broke vases, and generally wreaked havoc in Calvin's house, all while in Calvin's form.

"Come on out, Calvin!" he shouted. "And bring your tiger, too! We've got a score to settle!"

Calvin and Hobbes rushed down the stairs and skidded to a halt upon seeing Nimic disguised as Calvin. The alien grinned.

"You almost caught me." he sneered. " _Twice_."

"So?" asked Hobbes. "What's the big deal? Surely you've had similar situations before."

"Yeah, I have." Nimic admitted. "And every time, I made sure anyone who nearly caught pay dearly, and you're no exception." He paused. "Actually, you are different. You came closer to catching me than anyone has ever gotten. Guess that means you'll have to pay a bit more than usual."

"Um," said Calvin. "I'm afraid I can't really pay up, unless alien species also use coins and dollar-"

Nimic lunged at him, abruptly cutting him off. They rolled on the floor, punching and kicking, while Hobbes watched, not attacking, worrying that if he pounced, he would get Calvin and not Nimic. Finally, Calvin threw Nimic off of himself, causing the alien to crash into the wall.

The alien's form flickered reverting back to his true form. Suddenly, he turned around and ran towards the kitchen. Hobbes pounced at his while he was fleeing, sending the two tumbling into the refrigerator. Hobbes and Nimic exchanged a few punches, only for the alien to warp into Hobbes' form. Startled, Hobbes took a step back involuntarily, giving Nimic the opportunity to slash at him with his claws, knocking him to the ground.

Hobbes began to get up, only to realize that Nimic, who had turned back to his true form, was pointing a steak knife he had grabbed at him.

"Any last words?" the alien sneered.

"STOP RIGHT THERE OR I'LL PLAY THE KAZOO!"

Hobbes and Nimic's heads whipped towards the direction the shout had come from. Calvin was standing there, dramatically holding a little pink plastic kazoo. There was a pause.

Suddenly, Nimic burst out laughing.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Don't tell me you really think that a _child's plaything_ is going to hurt me!"

"I'm warning you!" Calvin continued. "This kazoo has been personally upgraded! As soon as I play this thing, it'll let loose a deafening noise that will wreak everything in the general vicinity!"

"Oh yeah?" Nimic asked mockingly. "If this little instrument of yours will actually do anything, then play it. _I dare you_."

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Calvin said. He then took a deep breath, and blew into the kazoo.

A very, _very_ loud noise burst out of the plastic instrument, causing the entire house to shake. Nimic and Hobbes covered their ears, the windows shattered, and the walls began to crack.

After a few seconds, Calvin stopped playing, and the house stopped shaking. Nimic stumbled dizzily for a second, stunned, when suddenly, the door opened, and a tranquilizer dart flew in, hitting Nimic. The shapeshifting alien fainted, and a high-tech, electrical net landed on him. Calvin's head turned towards the door. Standing there were Galaxoid and Nebular.

"You did it." Nebular said. "You actually did it."

"Well, he wrecked my house and blamed it on me." Calvin said simply. "Of course I'd try to get rid of him."

Hobbes moaned, still reeling from Calvin's devastating kazoo.

"We'll help Hobbes heal from whatever weapon you used." Nebular offered.

"Thanks." Calvin said.

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over them all. Calvin's face went pale.

Standing in the doorway was Mom, shock written all over her face. She tilted backwards, and fainted.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

"We'll also fix your house, if you don't mind." Galaxoid offered.

"Yeah, that would be nice." Calvin said. "Anything that would prevent Mom from violently dismembering me would be fine with me, really."

"We could also get you some lunch." Nebular offered.

"Really?" asked Calvin. "What will it be?"

* * *

Calvin, Hobbes, Galaxoid, and Nebular were at a fast food place, chowing down on some burgers. Some time between the fight at the zoo and Nimic's attack on Calvin and Hobbes' house, the little aliens had called in a repair team from their home planet. Somehow, they had managed to fix a good deal of the zoo, and part of the group had gone out of their way to patch up Calvin and Hobbes' house. In a couple hours, the house would look like how it was before Nimic came, according to Galaxoid and Nebular.

"Thanks for helping us out with everything." Hobbes said.

"He had been causing havoc for almost a year in your time now, and you finally caught him." Nebular explained. "It's the least we could do."

"If it weren't for the fact that the planet's population would flip out about it, I'd be telling everybody about how I caught an alien criminal!" Calvin exclaimed. "Since we caught Nimic for you, do you think you could, say, do my math homework for me?" He looked at the aliens with big puppy-dog eyes.

"Don't push it." Nebular said.

"Aw darn." Calvin said.

Galaxoid, Nebular, and Hobbes all burst out laughing. Calvin glared at them all.

"Ooh, I'll get you for this." he muttered under his breath. "Just you wait."

 **THE END**

* * *

 **Author's Note: Well, I finished my first fanfiction on this website. Anyways, as I've said before, this won't be canon to any of my future stories, as I feel I could have done much better. Nimic is lacking in personality, writing the fight scenes was awkward, as all the canon characters don't really have any way to fight, the ending lines lacked a feeling of closure, and admittedly, it was kind of rushed, as I just wanted to get everything out of the way so I could move on to other stories. I'll probably rewrite this at some point in the future. In the meantime, stay tuned for future stories on my account. See you when I get around to writing those.**


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